Old Order Returns.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 134, 7 May 1940, Page 6

Old Order Returns.

As a result of the petrol restrictions a buggy built in 1911 is to return to use in Masterton after being furbished. Teachers’ Gesture.

The annual conference of the New Zealand Educational Institute has decided to make a loan to the Government, free' of interest, of £IOOO for the duration of the war and six months afterward. Native Parrot.

An unusual visitor to the East Taieri district lately has been a kaka, or New Zealand parrot. Whether it is welcome from any but an ornithological point of view is, however, doubtful, because it has taken up a position in an orchard and has been living well on the fruit (says a Dunedin exchange). Royal Mail Aircraft.

The inauguration of the commercial air service across the Tasman has resulted in the flying-boats Aotcaroa and Awarua receiving the designation generally applied in other parts of the Empire to aircraft regularly carrying mail. They are being called R.M.A., or Royal Mail Aircraft Aotearoa and Awarua. Men of Military Age.

According to the summary of age groups in-'New Zealand 1 based on the census taken in 1936 there were 238,163 males in 1936 between the ages of 20 and 40. A further analysis shows that in the age groups 21-40, there were 109,879 single men and 110,775 married men.. Almost-' half the single men in this ago group were between the ages of 21 and 25. Too Apathetic.

The opinion that too many Now Zealanders were displaying a regrettable spirit of apathy to the war was expressed by the vicar of St. Anne’s Church, Northland, Wellington (Itev. J. E. Ashley-Joncs) when stressing the need for people attending mid-week Holy Communion and intercession services. He added that church people should realise in these days that it was their duty not to overlook such services.

Science and Crime. Practical results of the work of science in the detection of crime are shown in the annual report of the Dominion Laboratory. At Auckland two motor collision cases were investigated. In one the car was identified from the pattern of the running hoard on the clothing of the victim, and, in the other, the contact of two cars was proved by the transfer of lacquer, lii the case of a burglary from a safe, clay from the trousers and shoes of an accused was shown to be identical witli the clay from the place where the safe had been blown open. Waikato Show Pageant. The scene which took place on the banks of the "Waikato River on August 14, ISC4, when the 4th'Waikato Regiment landed at Hamilton and founded the town, will be re-enacted at the Waikato Centennial Winter Show in the form of a pageant. The southern end of the -balcony in Bledisloe .Hall will be; transformed, and will take the shape of the steamboat Rangiriri. which plied on the Waikato River 76 years ago. The representation of the landing will be performed by the Hamilton Amateur Operatic Society, the members of which- will use a ramp leading from the balcony to the central bandstand.

Snow In Wairarapa

A heavy fall of snow has occurred on the ranges in the Wairarapa, covering the peaks and extending to the lower slopes. Enlistments For Service.

Registrations for military service in tlio Central District for this month up to midnight on Saturday totalled 117, an increase of 25 since Thursday. Since recruiting for overseas service began 5202 men have registered in the Wellington and Hutt Valley area. Post Office Renovations.

The extensive renovations to the Post Office building in Palmerston North have now been almost completed, and workmen are applying the finishing touches. The work was started in May, 1938, and since that time the building has been enlarged and many improvements made. Transport Trends. The fact that one road transport concern operating in the Waipukurau district had carried no fewer than 100,000 sheep and lambs to the works last year was mentioned by the statiomnaster at Waipukurau (Mr T. Martin) in re’ viewing the inroads made by road transport into railway business in the Waipukurau area. Ngaruawahia Camp.

The mobilisation of the. Third Echelon men from the northern military district will be effected on Wednesday, May 15. The only substantial change from the mobilisation of the First and Second Echelons will be that no men are to go to Ngaruawahia, which will resume its identity as a Territorial camp. Motor Registrations.

Forty-four persons registered motor vehicles at the Palmerston North Chief Post Office yesterday, the first day for the registration to be made for the forthcoming year. This figure is higher than the corresponding one of last year and gratification is felt on this score as the greater the number of early registrations the lighter will bo the rush later in the month. Sculpture For Vatican.

Part of the Catholic pavilion at the Centennial Exhibition will 'be used to complete the Catholic Hut at Trentliem military camp. The sculpture, “Maori Madonna,” by Miss Margaret Butler, of Wellington, will be rent by request of Archbishop Panico, Papal Legate to the recent Eucharistic Congress at Wellington, to the World Exposition of Sacred Art at the Vatican City in 1942. Shooting In Wairarapa. Limit bags of swans were reported in the Wairarapa on Saturday and Sunday by a number of shooters, but there are few reports of the success of duck hunters. Sportsmen have stated that in spite ot the good visibility on Saturday the birds were not as high as was expected, and on Sunday, though the weather had improved from the hunter’s point of view, the birds were not sufficiently low. Railway Traffic Heavy. All the trains going north yesterday were well patronised by those people who had waited to see' the Exhibition close. The express train to Napier yesterday carried about 600 passengers in its sixteen carriages, and the train to New Plymouth .was so crowded that an extra carriage had to be placed on it at this centre. However, the trains going south were very small considering that the schools closed for the term holidays last Friday. Fish Puzzle.

Found at its last gasp on the edge of the Mangatainoka River at Konini, a fish 29in long'and weighing 7|lb lias provided a problem of identification. Though it is believed to be a brown trout, it lacks many of the distinguishing marks of that species, and it may even he a salmon. It carries none of the characteristic speckled markings of the brown trout, and its head is a glossy black without any of the usual spots of brownish red. Aged Trend.

Fox - the first time in tlie census history of New Zealand, the average age of females exceeds that of males. This is revealed in the review of the Census and Statistics Department of the 1936 census. In 1896 tlie average male, on the basis of the arithmetic mean, was 2.44 years older than the average female, but this gap diminished with the years till in 1926 it was 0.39 years, and in 1936 had changed to a female seniority of 0.16 years. Fewer Centenarians.

There were eight centenarians in New Zealand according to the population census taken in 1936. Since 1874, the number of centenarians at each, census has been: 1874, 2; 1878, 2; 1881, nil: 1886, 1; 1891, 1; 1896, 4; 1901, nil; 1906, 4; 1911, 7; 1916, 12; 1921, 8; 1926, 12; 1936, 8. The greatest age oh record was that of 116 years. It was recorded in ,1874 by an aged Tahitian native resident in Dunedin, and is believed to have been l-easonably authentic.

Competitions Society’s Festival. “I .notice that you use the word ‘festival’ here,” said Mr Claude H. Davies (Christchurch), one of the judges at the Manawatu Competitions Society’s festival, when speaking at the Opera House last evening. “That is what we have in mind; although we have to award placings we like to believe that the competitors feel that we have an interest in them all. People who do not succeed will do go surprisingly later, I have found from experience. 1 hope ' that all here will feel this week that they are engaged in working for the various arts.” Coal For Gasworks,

Ample supplies of coal are held at the Palmerston North gasworks, stated the manager (Mr J. Learmonth) this morning, m answer to an inquiry. Recently a Government official secured details of the coal holdings by the various gas undertakings, and it is understood that those which were •in short supply were attended to. All the coal bins at the Palmerston North gasworks are full. The class of coal used at the gasworks, however, is slack coal, whereas railway locomotives burn coal akin to the household kitchen type, supplies of which have been causing concern.